The recent proposal to allow San Bernardino County employees to carry guns at work is well-intentioned, but could result in harm to innocent persons.

Professional guards with police training would be more effective at protecting county employees than would random workers having concealed weapons permits.

An employee’s primary focus is upon her or his normal workload. He or she can’t be continually ready to fire a weapon in defense of fellow employees.

By contrast, a terrorist or other gunman is going to have his weapon primed and his finger on the trigger when he enters the room.

The terrorist or mass killer need not aim at any specific person since he seeks to kill everyone in the room. The employee must hit one specific individual, the terrorist.

Police, who are well-trained and regularly practice shooting, often require a dozen or more shots to hit a suspect even once or twice.

If an employee, however, needed to fire that many, or more, rounds, he would likely hit, and possibly kill, one or more bystanders.

Fortunately, the odds of a second terrorist attack in a San Bernardino office are extremely slim. The tragic event of Dec. 2 was unparalleled in America since 9/11.

Furthermore, as the Facts reported, terrorist Syed Farook was a legitimate employee who would have been eligible to bring a gun to work under the guidelines proposed for the County.

If a need can be demonstrated, the county usually has unfilled vacancies that could be redirected to hire professional guards for its facilities.

Obama’s Court nominee should be a moderate

President Barack Obama should set an example for future chief executives by nominating a moderate, non-partisan jurist to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court.

Too many nominations are based on the candidate’s ideological and partisan stance. The Court’s decisions reflect this divide too often.

These days, the Democrats and the Republicans hope a vacancy occurs when they have the power to add another partisan member to the Court.

Obama wants to make the current nomination before leaving office. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Republicans seek to delay it for a year.

But decisions by the highest court in the land should be based entirely on evidence and merit, not on politics or ideology. In fact, a commission of distinguished legal minds, regardless of party, should be the main source of nominating advice to any president.

President Obama can’t lose by nominating a moderate, non-partisan candidate. Automatic rejection by the GOP would cost them votes in November.

If each future President would follow this pattern, at least one branch of government would put the welfare of the American people above extreme partisanship.

Our Coastal Commission betrays the public trust

More than 200 people spoke at the public session prior to the meeting, and virtually every one of them opposed dismissing Lester.

The Commission had received over 11,000 letters on the issue, with only two letters favoring dismissal. Every Commission staff member backed Lester.

Thirty-five former commissioners – both Democrats and Republicans – wrote to the Commission in support of Lester, who was unanimously elected in 2011.

They said, “Dr. Lester’s professional leadership provides a critical steady hand at the helm during these particularly challenging times.”

The Coastal Commission was established by California voters in 1972 to prevent overdevelopment of our 1,100 mile shoreline, protect the environment, and safeguard public access to the beaches.

Pro-development members of the Commission led the effort to oust Lester. A former Commissioner said, “These are commissioners whose interests are not aligned with those of 40 million people (Californians).”

One problem is that some Commissioners also hold elective office: mayor, etc. Thus, they receive contributions, $1,000 for example, from developers’ lobbyists – supposedly toward election campaigns – but the next day they voted favoring the person’s coastal development.

To forestall this, the Legislature should pass a law making elected office holders ineligible for concurrent membership on the Commission.

Howard Hurlbut is an emeritus professor of the University of Redlands and a resident of Redlands.